::family shots::

In November we got together with a friend who did a family photo shoot for us. Unfortunately we had a limited window of time to do it in, and the light was super bad. So a lot of the pictures didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. We're going to redo the session at some point here when it's not so darn cold. But a few of them were cute, so I wanted to show you all.
We found a gorgeous house with big wooden gates and blue doors in their courtyard wall. The people there were kind enough to let us use their place as a backdrop. It made me want to go home and paint all our doors blue!




Sweet little boys:


That Sandy sure does love his brother!





And after the blue door house we went down to the railyard to try to get a few shots with the trains. But the boys were pretty much worn out by then. And it was windy and cold. And Max was hungry.
So we'll have to redo those too--but at least you can see what a cool setting it is there!



So there ya go!
I used a couple of the photos for our Christmas card and it turned out fun. I'll post it here later for those of you who might not've got one! (Or for those of you I sent them out to and then got them back later for various reasons!)

::kansas city::

In early November we got to go to Kansas City to see Kelly's family and to be present for baby Gray's blessing. We were pretty excited to go, considering it has been years since we've been back there. We're quite fond of Kansas City and there have been many things we've missed about it over the years.
The bummer was that it was seriously a whirlwind trip. We got there saturday afternoon and left monday morning.
So it was tough to squeeze in all we were hoping and wanting to do.

But of course, most importantly, we got to see family. Kelly and Lechelle had a nice little open house before the blessing with lots of yummy food. We got to hang out together for a bit there, and then go to church. The blessing was so nice and their ward seems great.
Before church we took a couple of photos, but Boston was NOT wanting to cooperate. Cute, but cranky!



This was the very cutest one:

And then the whole group of us Hendricks.

Some cute kids in there!

Besides the family time, we got to go and eat some of our favorite foods at our favorite places. The Taqueria Mexico was still there, just the same as when we left it.


And still delicious. Sandy loved digging into the rice and beans.

We also went to our favorite sandwich place--Planet Sub. Twice. And it was just so stinking good.
The funniest thing is that we started taking Max to Planet Sub (regularly) back when he was about Sandy's age. He would eat a little bite of the kid's sandwich and then be done.
Well Mr. Sand the crazy eater chowed the whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then asked for MORE!


I think he may have the potential to grow up to be a competitive eater. YIKES. I better watch out.

So it was a fun quick trip. Wish it could've been longer, truly it only seemed like we saw Kelly & Lechelle for a few minutes. But we can do it again soon! We're always up for more Planet Sub.

::do they still look alike?::

Max at about 1 year old:

Sand at about 1 year old as well:

What do you think? Opinions? I definitely see some similarities, but also a lot of differences. Coloring for sure. Max was blond and though Sandy's hair isn't super dark it's not blond.
They're both STINKING cute.

::car dealership::

One sunday a month or two ago Max decided he wanted to play "car dealership". He got out his big ol' box of matchbox/hot wheels cars and went for it.
He's always always loved cars. He's spent so many hours of his life playing with them. I love how engaged he gets.
Anyway.

And this is what he ended up with.
Isn't it amazing looking? We have lots of video with him explaining it and showing how you shop for cars, and having cars shopping for other cars. All sorts of good stuff.

But the biggest challenge is protecting the work of art from the little stinker.

But back then little piglet had just barely learned to crawl and he didn't go too fast. In fact I don't know if he ever even noticed the dealership was there. Our living room is big enough that Max can go back behind a chair and stay out of the line of sight.

So the dealership went on all that day, and it was, of course, super tragic when we finally had to clean it up.

He's such a funny guy, that Max.

::a little perspective::

So just in case somebody out there couldn't tell just how huge this tree is from the last few photos.

Isn't it a cool and unusual little (oh whoops I mean big) tree?

::tree::

And we got it in and we got it all lit! It was intimidating to light, but not so hard once I got started.
What do you think? We think it's really fun.

And my favorite way to show a lighted tree!

And the little tree is hanging out in the pool table room. I have plans for it. I'll tell you about them later.

See the chile lights up on the window? Kris is excited about those, he's wanted some for a long time.
More later, as always!

::tree hunting::

We've only done it once before, but we want it to be a serious family tradition. Every year we go up in our mountains and find ourselves a special Christmas tree.
There was a big snow storm predicted for friday into saturday, and we were really hoping that it wouldn't stop our tree hunt. It was the only possible day to do it in weeks.
So, though it snowed a bit--much less than predicted--we didn't let it stop us!!

It's interesting searching for trees, especially out here in the desert. It's not like there are just a billion perfect ones sitting there for the picking. Especially when one has a car full of little 'uns and has to stay close to the road and the car.

And it's tough because a tree that looks good from the car can look completely different up close.
This is a cute little one, isn't it?

Well, not so little now that we see it in perspective, right?

It wasn't quite what we were looking for, so we pressed onward.

Finally, after some more bumpy snowy driving we spied a good looking one. And when we got out to study it, turned out that there was one behind it a little ways that was perfect! So we went for it.

It's like a puzzle trying to see the tree in all the snowy branches.
It was a little ways down a snowy bank. It was also super tall, and we only needed about the top 10 feet, so we cut it a little higher than usual.
Sandy was so good and patient.

He just hung out in the car and ate pretzels. Then when he ran out he squeaked and screamed until somebody filled his little fists again.

Here are the boys cutting the tree.

Max had the hold the saw for a bit while Kris moved the car--there was other traffic up in the snowy mountains, surprisingly.

Then he got tired and put the saw down, and when he thought nobody was looking he had a little snack.

Hah.
And here's the tree! Huge!!



And then we all hung out while Kris did the tough work of tying the tree up top.

We really like this picture. It gives a good feel for the whole experience.



Then on the way out we searched out a cute little tree for our other room. I got greedy and just couldn't leave without more than one.

When we got this one home it turns out it's a truly lopsided little guy. But fun nonetheless.

And afterwards we got to eat Dairy Queen, since that's really the only place to eat within miles. I guess that's part of the tradition!
And here are a couple of bonus pictures of our Sand, since he was stuck in the car the whole time. He was looking very festive and deserves some attention too!


And today I got the lights on, so more tree reports to follow!

**And I forgot to mention the poor Land Rover. It's truly our adventure car, but the Infiniti had to stand in for it this year since it's totally non-functional. Kris has plans to trade some dental work for repairs in the next year though, so we'll see if the poor thing can be revived. We're thinking of you Land Grover!

::st george pt 2::

So for part two:
One little bonus photo from the swimming. The Go Pro camera is so awesome.

I took pictures of Kari's family. I haven't finished editing them yet, but I have done a few and they're quite cute. Like this.

Then we left.
Poor little Sandy had a big puke--the first real one of his life on friday night. It was very sad, and then he seemed totally fine. We hoped that it was just overfeeding or travel or something. Anyway, he was fine after that and so we went on with life.
We left on sunday morning and the GPS told us to go through Zion's. It wasn't the quickest or easiest way to go, but it sure was picturesque.

It's gorgeous. And so fun to drive through a huge tunnel through the mountain.



The bummer was that the little twisty roads made everybody a little carsick--except Sand. Max especially felt ill, and we had to pull over so he could decide whether he was going to be sick or not at some point.

He wasn't quite himself.
We stopped in Flagstaff and stayed the night. We ate a kind of gross dinner and went to bed. Sadly, I woke up at 1AM sick and threw up all night. Then Max woke up and wasn't sick at first, but.... Kris didn't feel all that well, but survived without a puke, lucky for him.
Kris took the boys down to breakfast while I tried to catch up on a little sleep.

Sandy ate a large and healthy breakfast. He loves breakfast.
Max _tried_ to eat a large and exciting breakfast.

Wow, right? Kris said he managed to eat about 10% of all the food he had gathered.
Then he proceeded to be sick for the rest of the day. He threw up all the way home.
We did make it home in the late evening and we were so glad we made it.

Lucky for us we're not used to this sort of thing. Our boys are such great travelers. Hopefully we'll be spared this happening too many other times!
It was still a fun weekend though. Lots of fun pictures anyway!